Today’s Businessday Newspaper Headlines, Thursday 3rd January 2019

New Year, same story as stocks shed 1.15%Thu, 03 Jan 2019
Nigerian stocks started the New Year the way they ended the last as equities fell by 1.15 percent led by declines in cement banks, banks and brewers. Heavy weight Dangote Cement fell 1.95 percent to N186 per share, while Lafarge shed 3.61 percent to N12 per share. Nigerian Breweries led the decline for beer makers…read more…

Benue Governor offers N30m relief to fire victimsThu, 03 Jan 2019
Governor Samuel Ortom this morning visited Wadata Market which was gutted by fire last night for an on the spot assessment of damages caused by the incidence. At the Market, Governor Ortom addressed the victims and other traders in the Market. He donated N30 million naira to the victims as an interim measure to cushion…read more…

US embassy to stick to visa interviews despite Govt shutdownThu, 03 Jan 2019
The United States Embassy said Wednesday that its Abuja and Lagos offices remain open forall consular business, including visa interviews. There were concerns that with the US government shutdown, thousands of Nigerians scheduled to leave for the US any time from now will be affected and their visa interviews postponed indefinitely. The embassy has now…read more…

OPEC supply cap dampens Egina first oil euphoriaThu, 03 Jan 2019
Nigeria’s daily crude oil production will rise by 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) from February when the first cargoes from Total’s newly producing offshore Egina Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) which hit first oil on December 29, 2018, comes into the market, lifting output above 2 million bpd, and pushing the country’s output past…read more…

FG initiates reconciliation with labour leaders on new minimum wageThu, 03 Jan 2019
Federal Government on Wednesday unveiled plans to hold crucial meeting with the leadership of the three labour centres as part of efforts geared toward averting the nationwide strike over the non-implementation of the N30,000 new minimum wage. Those expected at the meeting are: Ayuba Wabba, President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC); Peter Ozo-Eson, NLC General…read more…

Ghana leads Africa’s top economies in MSMEs’ contribution to GDPThu, 03 Jan 2019
Despite efforts by the Nigerian government to promote small and medium-sized (MSMEs) enterprises, Ghana is leading the rest of Africa in the contribution of these organisations to total output of goods and services, figures show. A BusinessDay analysis of the contributions of MSMEs production in five African economies showed that those in Ghana contributed more…read more…

Nigeria’s terms of trade rose marginally in 2018 Q3, NBS report showsThu, 03 Jan 2019
Nigeria’s all-products terms of trade for Q3 2018 rose marginally by 0.52 percent as the indices averaged 99.29 in the quarter. Correspondingly, the all- region group export index rose by 1.05 percent with a quarterly average of 101.73 owing to its surge in August. The terms of trade (TOT) is a ratio of the price…read more…

How Nigerian researcher creates African artworks using AIThu, 03 Jan 2019
One of the major highlights in the world of artificial intelligence (AI) in 2018 was when it was used to generate realistic fake video footage by making the subject of one video mirror the motions and expressions of someone else in a different clip. That piece of discovery raised a lot of eyebrows, proving the…read more…

Joint venture, stock, bonds seen as viable financing options for ship acquisitionThu, 03 Jan 2019
As commercial banks continue to restrict lending to shipping companies owing to regulatory and risk management considerations, Nigerian shipowners have been advised to consider structures such as high-yield bonds, joint venture partnership and capital market listing as viable options to funding ship acquisition. Experts, who took turns to assess the state of Nigeria’s shipping business…read more…

9mobile plans to break new grounds in IoT, data services, mobile money in 2019Thu, 03 Jan 2019
9mobile, has expressed gratitude to its customers and indeed all Nigerians for their steadfast support and loyalty in 2018, and assured them of continuous delivery of excellent services in the New Year. Stephane Beuvelet, acting managing director of 9mobile, in an end-of-year message, said the new management of the telecommunications company is deeply grateful to…read more…

Nigeria’s VAT revenue rises by 9.16% to N273.50bn in Q3Thu, 03 Jan 2019
Nigeria generated the sum of N273.50 billion as Value Added Tax (VAT) in the third quarter (Q3) of 2018 as against N266.73 billion generated in Q2 2018 and N269.79 billion in Q1 2018. This, according to the National of Bureau of Statistics (NBS), represents 2.54 percent increase Quarter-on-Quarter and 9.16 percent increase Year-on-Year. The NBS…read more..